This invention relates to a voice signal transmitting/receiving apparatus for transmitting and receiving voice signals with a partner voice signal transmitting/receiving apparatus and, more particularly, to improvements in the arrangements of a speaker array and a microphone array.
In the related art, there has been known (as referred to Non-Patent Publication 1, for example) an audio device, which includes a speaker array having a plurality of speaker units arrayed therein. This audio device is enabled, by giving a delay time to audio signals to be inputted to the individual speaker units, to control the orienting direction and the orienting range of the voice beam to be outputted from the speaker array. As a result, the voice beam can be outputted within a narrow orienting range covering only the position of the user so that only the user can listen to the voice even in case others are in the sound field.
There has also been known an audio device equipped with a microphone array having a plurality of microphones arrayed therein. This audio device controls the delay times of signals collected by the individual microphones. Specifically, the audio device performs the delay control of the voice signals inputted to the individual microphones, so as to compensate the difference in the arrival times for the voices to arrive at the individual microphones from a specific orienting area.
The aforementioned audio device adds and synthesizes the individual signals after controlled in delay. By these addition and synthesization, the voices from a specific orienting area are amplified in phase so that the voices from others of the specific orienting area become out of phase so that they cancel each other. As a result, this audio device can specify and collect the voices coming from the specific orienting area. By setting that specific area as the position of the user, only the voice of the user can be specifically collected while the noises from other areas being left uncollected.
Non-Patent Publication 1
“Digital Sound Projector, YSP-1 Catalogue”, Yamaha Corporation, issued in December, 2004, page 4.